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Analytical capacity to strengthen the competitiveness of Uruguay’s dairy sector
Latitud, LATU’s research, development and innovation foundation, together with Campo Limpio and the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, is carrying out a strategic project to build national analytical capacity and generate new scientific data that will help strengthen the competitiveness of Uruguay’s dairy sector.
This initiative seeks to develop and validate the analytical technique needed to quantify dioxins and furans—persistent organic pollutants (POPs)—in milk and dairy products. To date, Uruguay does not have this technique or information on the presence of these compounds in foods, making this project a milestone for national science and for the safety of the dairy value chain.
Why study dioxins and furans?
POPs generally originate from human activities, such as forest fires, burning of plastics or waste, burning of containers for synthetic agrochemicals, and certain industrial processes. These compounds negatively affect the environment, flora, and human and animal health, and can cause dermal toxicity and alterations in the endocrine, immune, nervous and reproductive systems; some are also carcinogenic.
Among these contaminants are polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDF) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs). These are highly toxic, lipophilic, and chemically and metabolically persistent polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons.
The project will develop and validate the analytical technique required to determine these three groups of compounds in milk and dairy products. It will then assess contamination levels in raw milk from farms selected by degree of intensification and geographic location, especially those near population centers or waste-processing areas.
In this way, initial information will be generated on the presence, distribution, and variability of these contaminants on dairy farms, as well as their relationship with the factors mentioned and with other potential risk determinants (such as farm size or waste management).
In addition, the project will study how these compounds distribute and concentrate during the pilot-scale production of milk powder and butter. Subsequently, samples of milk powder and butter from the local market—relevant due to export volume and/or fat content—will be analyzed to obtain the first national data to estimate consumer exposure.
This will provide up-to-date information on these contaminants in the dairy chain, identify possible risk factors and mitigation pathways, and leave the developed analytical technique available for continued research, including other matrices such as animal feed. This information will be key for decision-making by all actors in the dairy chain (primary production, industry, and regulatory bodies).
A key contribution to the competitiveness of the dairy sector
For the first time, the project will provide current national information on the presence of these contaminants in the dairy chain, along with an analytical tool for ongoing research and risk monitoring.
These results will be essential to better understand risk factors, mitigate potential impacts on health and the environment, strengthen the safety and quality of national products, reduce potential economic losses, and reinforce the confidence of international markets.
With this progress, Latitud is contributing to a safer, more competitive dairy chain aligned with international standards, strengthening the sector’s positioning and supporting its sustainable development into the future.
